The C101 was piloted by an instructor at the San Javier Air Academy and former member of the "Eagle Patrol" aerobatics team

The beaches of Monte Blanco and Galúa within the Cartagena municipality and Entremares and Levante in the San Javier section of La Manga del Mar Menor remain closed to bathers following the fatal air crash this morning in which the C-101 training plane flown by an instructor from the San Javier Air Academy plunged into the Mediterranean just after 09:30 this morning.

The deceased, pilot Francisco Marín Núñez, was a former member of the Patrulla Águila, the Eagle Patrol and had participated in many public displays and exhibitions during his career as a pilot and instructor.

Although the cause of the incident is currently unknown, video footage taken by bathers on the beach shows the plane undertaking a manoeuvre and diving down towards the sea before apparently failing to pull out of the dive and crashing into the water.

The pilot managed to eject before the plane crashed, but his body was found three hours later after a concerted search by rescuers.

The beaches have been closed to enable investigators to recover wreckage which is still coming ashore and ensure that there are no traces of fuel in the area concerned.

Two minesweepers from the Spanish Navy are engaged in an offshore search for the fuselage.

The C101 is the training plane used by the Eagle Patrol, the Patrulla Águila, based in San Javier at the air academy and which can frequently be seen training over the Mar Menor.